Suction cleaner



April 3, 1934. H, K|TTO v l 1,953,617

sUcTIoN CLEANER Filed June 21, 1930 lmlllllllll!l Patented Apr. 3, 1934 TES PATENT oil-ries SUG'HON CLEANER William H. Kitto, Canton, Ohio, assigner to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of @hilo Application June 21, 1930, Serial No. 462,762

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to suction cleaners and particularly to improvements in the power transmission means provided in suction cleaners for the positive agitator included therein. More specifically the invention relates to a new and improved belttightener for the agitator-driving belt in a suction cleaner.

In suction cleaners of a well known type in which a rotary agitator is positioned within the suction cleaner nozzle it is a common expedient to provide a power-transmitting belt for the purpose of transmitting the rotating torque from the driving motor to the rotating agitator. Heretofore these driving belts have necessarily been made of resilient material to insure the necessary tension therein which is requisite for proper driving friction with the pulleys with which they contact. Resilience in the belt was also made necessary to accommodate any increase in the length of the belt path such as occurs W en some foreign material such as a string becom s wrapped about a pulley. Belts of inelastic ma erial have been developed, however, which have greater durability and life than the common resilient belt but heretofore have not been usable in suction cleaners because of their inability to stretch to accommodate a condition such as that described. By the incorporation of the present invention in the cleaner, however, the requirement of elasticity in the belt proper is eliminated and exterior resilient means are provided to perform the functions of tensioning and accommodating undesirable increases in the length of the belt path.

It is an object of the present invention to provide in a suction cleaner a new and novel belttensioning construction.l It is a further object to provide in a suction cleaner means to insure a constant tension in the power-transmitting belt throughout its entire life. It is still another obtion which may readily be incorporated into the common type suction cleaner. Otherand more specific objects will appear upon reading the following specicationand considering it in conent invention.

ject to provide a simple belt tensioning construe` Fig. 3 is an element of the belt tensioning con-- struction.

Fig. 4 is a view of one of the pivoted end plates embodied in the present invention as seen from the interior of the suction nozzle.

Referring again to the drawing, a modern suction cleaner is disclosed which comprises a main casing including a nozzle 10 having a downwardly facing mouth and a fan chamber 12. A motor casing 13, housing a suitable driving motor, is positioned upon the main casing immediately above the chamber 12 and the depending motor shaft 14 extends therethrough and rotatably supports the fan 15 therein. Shaft 14 continues on through chamber 12 into the air passageway 11, which connects the fan chamber to the nozzle proper, and there carries the belt-receiving pulley 16.

The entire cleaner is' movably supported upon the surface undergoing cleaning by means of front supporting wheels 17, 17 and rear supporting wheels 18, 18, as in the usual cleaner construction.

Pivotally mounted within the nozzle 10 and pivotally supported by the pins 19, 19 is an agitator-supporting frame comprising the spaced end plates 20, 20 which are rigidly connected at their front ends by a transverse member 21 which is so shaped that'its rearward and lower side 22 forms, in the operative position of the agitatorsupporting frame, the front lip of the nozzle,

while the forward side 23 securely seats against the lower edge of the front wall of the nozzle 10 making a sealed joint therewith. Suitable means which form no part of the present invention are provided which detachably secure the agitator-supporting frame in its operative position within the nozzle 10.

IPositioned in each of the end plates 20, 20 of Vthe agitator-supporting frame is a slot 24 which is provided with an open ended and transverse continuation 25 for a purpose to be hereinafter set'forth. Pivoted near the bottom of each plate 20 and below slot 24, as indicated at 26, is a member 27 which, like the adjacent end plate 20, is provided with a slot 28 which is itself open ended. Slot 28, inthe various positions of meinber 27, is adapted to extend transversely across the main portion and the offset continuation 25 of the slot 24 to permit the entrance of a pin or axle-member therein thru the open end of j` 27 and also serves as a means by which the mem-Y bers may be pivoted by the operator about pivot points 26 forthe adjustment of slot 28 relative to slot 24. Secured to the inner side of each lplate 20 as by the struck-out ears 31, 31 is a spring 3 2 the forward edge of which lies in the plane of the member 27 and contacts against the edge thereof serving at all times to urge that member about point 26 and the slot 28 in the direction of the closed end of slot 24.

Within nozzle 10, and extending transversely thereof as in the ordinary suction cleaner, is a rotary agitator 35 comprising the rigid beating elements 36, 36 and the brushes 37, 37. The supporting shaft 40 of agitator 35 extends beyond the ends thereof and seats within the slots 24, 24 which function as guideways, having flrst passed through the members 27, 27 at the slots 28, 28 therein. A driving belt 41, which may be of inelastic material, extends from the pulley surface 42 formed upon the agitator 35 thru the air passageway 11 to the driving pulleyl carried by the motor driven shaft 14 and provides the means by which the agitator is driven from the motor-driven shaft 14.

As the agitator shaft 40 extends at each end thru both a pivoted member 27 and an end plate 20, and as the respective slots 28 and 24 in which the shaft is positioned extend transversely of one another, it is clear that upon the pivotal movement 'of members 27, 27 that the shaft 40 will be moved either forwardly or rearwardly in the main portion of the slots 24, 24. The resilient spring 32 acting upon each member 27 tends to at all times pivot members 27, 27 in the forward direction and to advance the shaft 40 towards the front of the' suction cleaner against the tension in the driving belt 41 which extends from the pulley 42 on the agitator to the driving pulley 16 on the motor driven shaft 14, as here,- inbefore described. Thespring 32 is of an appropriate strength to maintain the necessary tension in the driving belt 41, which may be itself without elastic'qualities, yet is suiliciently resilient to permit the rearward movement of agitator 35 in the nozzle in response to an unusual pull by the driving belt far below its elastic limit.

If for any reason it is desired to remove the agitator 35 from the supporting frame it is only necessary to pivot the frame `downwardly from the nozzle mouth, having first disconnected the driving belt 41 from the driving pulley 16,' then manually pivot .the members 27, 27 against the action of the springs 32, 32, using the transversely extending member or bar 29 as a. handle, until the slots 28, 28 in each member 27 extend across the continuation slots 25, 25, at which time the agitator may be lifted therefrom with only a slight additional angular movement of the member 27. The, insertion of a new agitator is substantially the reverse operation requiring only the pivoting of the members 27, 27 until the openended slots 28, 28 and 25, 25 coincide at their ends, at which time the shaft 40 may be lowered in the continuation slots 25, 25, into the main portion of slots 24, 24, the members 27, 27 altering their position to permit such movement.

1. In a suction cleaner a nozzle having a mouth, a rigid beater agitator in said nozzle including a shaft, an agitator-supporting frame comprising pivoted end plates in said nozzle; a transverse member rigidly connecting said end plates, said end plates formed with open-ended slots slidably seating said agitator shaft, the main portion of said slots extending substantially parallelv to the plane of said nozzle mouth, a driving member spaced from said agitator, a belt connecting said agitator and said driving member and extending in a direction substantially parallel to the main portions of said slots', and pivoted members carried by said end plates and extended across said slots in contact with said shaft, and spring carried by said end plates in Contact with said pivoted members tending to urge said members relative to said slots and move said shaft therein against the tension of.

said belt.

2. In a suction cleaner, a nozzle supported above a surface undergoing cleaning, an agitator-supporting frame comprising pivoted end plates positioned in said nozzle, a transverse member rigidly connecting said end plates, each endplate formed with a slot including a main portion extending substantially parallel to the plane of the inlet of said nozzle and an openended end portion extended at an angle to the main portion, a pivoted agitator-position-determining member carried by each plate having an open-ended slot positioned therein, said lastmentioned slot so positioned that in one position of said pivoted member it extends substantially parallel to the open-ended end portion of said first-mentioned slot permitting the entrance of an agitator shaft to the main portion of said first-mentioned slot, and resilient means urging said pivoted member about its pivot point to move said agitator shaft in said first-mentioned slot parallel to the plane of said nozzle inlet.

WILLIAM H. KITTO. 

